The use of isiXhosa children’s poetry as a tool to integrate literacy, mathematics and life skills in Foundation Phase: Grade R-3

Abstract

Literature helps us understand and make sense of the world around us. It is a part of education, which broadens one’s mind about how to understand, transfer knowledge and provide meaningful and authentic learning. Thus, this article aims to highlight how some elements of isiXhosa children’s poetry can be used to help pre-service teachers to teach and integrate mathematics and life skills with literacy in Foundation Phase (FP). This approach of using poems for integration strengthens concepts and skills in more than one subject area. The theoretical framework that informed the article is integrative learning. The data in this article were generated through non-participant classroom observations and non-structured interviews with the participants of the study and the researchers adopted the interpretative phenomenological analysis method for data analysis. This article was prompted by findings of lack of understanding of integrative teaching and learning and lack of teaching resources in isiXhosa to enhance integrative teaching and learning in FP intervention undertaken with 25 first year isiXhosa-speaking FP students.